Black Sabbath’s Bill Ward emotionally reflects on farewell show: “Thank you”
Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward has reflected on the heavy metal group’s farewell show at Villa Park in Birmingham last weekend as they bowed out in style.
While Black Sabbath previously toured the world in 2016 and 2017 on a farewell tour, Ward wasn’t part of the line-up following a contractual disagreement which led to him not featuring on an earlier tour a few years prior.
Additionally, Ward didn’t contribute to Sabbath’s final album, 13, as he was out of the picture. The show at Villa Park marked the first time Ward, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Ozzy Osbourne performed together in more than two decades, which brought the band’s story to a fitting end as the original four members reunited in their hometown.
Now, in a new Instagram post, Ward emotionally said of the occasion: “Packing a third suitcase in preparation to go back to America. The handshakes and embraces and kind words from fellow musicians are still foremost in my often fading memory, worthwhile, long-lasting, holding. They punctuate how much we have missed each other.”
The drummer added: “To be with ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs,’ to slam and reach for my undone musical parts, and for however briefly, to be in the reality of memories.”
Ward then extended his gratitude to everybody who made his return to Black Sabbath possible, concluding, “Thanks to Tony, Geezer and Oz, the crews, everyone that put it together, and of most importance, the Metal heads and bodies who have embraced so much and given their love fanatically. To all thank you, thank you. You are truly immortal.”
It comes after Ward’s three Black Sabbath band mates recently said they only agreed to reunite if the drummer was on-board. Butler told LouderSound: “The whole point of this last show was to finish with the original four of us playing together, so I wouldn’t have contemplated it without Bill.”
All proceeds from the historic rock extravaganza were shared between Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Acorn Children’s Hospice. According to the concert’s creative director Tom Morello, it raised almost $200 million for the three charities and more than five million people paid to stream the concert from home.
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